I think when it comes to blocking, the best approach is when a blocked user is still able to reply but those are hidden from the person that blocked them. While this does basically lead to “harrassment behind their back,” it also prevents users from stifling conversation intentionally by preventing those users from blocking others that may disagree with them so that there is no real discussion or conversation on a comment or topic.

Its a shiniest of two turds option, as the ideal situation is that everyone can be nice and not nasty when someone has a different opinion, thus a block feature not needing to exist. But since we can’t be having any “wrongthink,” (whatever that may mean to each user is different) and anonymity brings out the worst in people, a block feature the way it currently works is necessary.

One annoying feature is that all replies to a blocked user are also automatically hidden regardless of if those people are blocked or not, which I wish wouldn’t happen. Even if the client loaded a dummy comment in place of a blocked user it would be better IMO.

But at the end of the day, there is not really anything anyone can do to prevent other people from reading or interacting with your Lemmy account. They can just not log in, or they can create a new account. They could even create a whole new instance just to keep making accounts. Its like playing whackamole, you just hope the ones you block dont go that far.